STAT+: BMI alternative would flip obesity diagnosis for millions, study finds
Medical experts have long considered body mass index a blunt instrument for defining obesity, leading to concerns that substantial numbers of people with excess body fat are missed while others who are healthy are wrongly diagnosed.
Key points
- Combining body mass index with other measurements and tests would lead to better care and outcomes, experts say An alternative to BMI for diagnosing obesity could prevent misdiagnosis in millions of people worldwide, according to doctors who found it more accurately distinguished healthy people from those with harmful excess body fat.
- LONDON — Millions of people would have their obesity diagnoses flipped — from having obesity to not, and vice versa — if an alternate way of defining the disease supplanted the standard body mass index measure, according to a new study that argues such an approach could lead to better care for patients.
- The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, is the latest volley in a debate about the limitations of the body mass index, and what could possibly replace it.
BMI is deeply entrenched as a metric, dictating everything from regulatory decisions to insurance coverage to who is eligible for certain medical treatments.
Additional details
- But it is a blunt measure that fails to take into account other health issues and differences in body composition, such as where fat is stored.
- The new research stems from an effort to come up with a different diagnostic framework.
- Continue to STAT+ to read the full story….
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